Archive for the ‘harassment’ Category

CAIRO, Egypt – The top U.S. military commander in the Mideast said Friday that Iran runs the risk of triggering an unintended conflict if its boats continue to harass U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf.

This image released by the US Navy Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008, and shot Sunday, Jan. 6 from the bridge of the destroyer USS Hopper, shows a small blue boat, alleged to be Iranian, purportedly racing near the wake of U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf. The incident, which President George W. Bush denounced Tuesday as a ‘provocative act,’ was videotaped by a crew member on the bridge of the destroyer USS Hopper, one of the three ships that faced down five Iranian boats in a flare-up early Sunday.(AP Photo/U.S. Navy)
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Adm. William J. Fallon, chief of U.S. Central Command, said a threatening radio call heard during an encounter Sunday between U.S. Navy ships and Iranian boats in the Strait of Hormuz was likely connected to Iran’s provocative actions. He said the exact origin of the message was still unknown.

“This kind of behavior, if it happens in the future, is the kind of event that could precipitate a mistake,” Fallon told The Associated Press. “If the boats come closer, at what point does the captain think it is a direct threat to the ship and has to do something to stop it?”

Peace and Freedom has learned that three U.S. Navy ships were harassed by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday.

The U.S. Navy said three of its warships were provoked and harassed in international waters by small craft from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Five small Iranian boats repeatedly “charged” the U.S. warships in the Gulf’s Hormuz Strait and dropped boxes in the water as the U.S. Navy ships approached.

The U.S. ships are the cruiser USS Port Royal (CG 73), the guided missile destroyer USS Hopper (DDG 70) and and the guided missile frigate USS Ingraham (FFG 61).

The U.S. Navy Guided Missile Cruiser USS Port Royal
(CG 73). Photo provided by the U.S. Navy.
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The Iranian boats departed the area when the crews of the U.S. warships manned their guns.

Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman called it a “serious incident.” Another U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, called it “the most serious provocation of this sort that we’ve seen yet.”

The incident, if in international waters, would appear to be a violation of international law.

DERA ALLAH YAR, Pakistan – Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto accused Pakistan‘s military intelligence Thursday of pressuring candidates from her party to drop out of next month’s parliamentary elections and urged officials to crack down on such harassment.

Bhutto, a two-time former prime minister who recently returned from years of living in exile, told reporters during a campaign stop her party has evidence of interference, though she did not say what it was.

“We demand that the Election Commission should take notice of such things to ensure free and fair elections,” she said, also accusing local mayors of gearing up to cheat.

KHOTKOVO, Russia: Slapping a coat of paint on the pedestal of a bust of Lenin in a provincial Russian town may not be much of a job, but Kuram, 49, says it beats making the equivalent of $16 a month back home in Uzbekistan.

“If things were better there, I wouldn’t be here,” said the tractor driver, at work in Khotkovo, 60 kilometers, or about 40 miles, northeast of Moscow. He declined to give his last name for fear of running afoul of the Russian immigration authorities.

Russia’s booming economy is luring more and more people like Kuram, who are willing to take jobs its own citizens can’t or won’t do. The country’s increasingly capitalistic society is creating greater wealth and aspirations, forcing Russia to confront a problem more familiar in the West: integrating foreign workers who often face discrimination and harassment.